Thursday, July 30, 2015

Sometimes it takes a supervillain to defeat a supervillain

The team goes on two
missions, while their leader fights to retain control of her project
in New Suicide Squad Volume 1: Pure Insanity.

So
the Suicide Squad is doing its crazy thing, but apparently someone's
decided that it needs a bit more oversight than it has traditionally
had. Enter Victor Sage, a
by-the-books kind of guy, designated to lead the Suicide Squad
alongside Waller, and keep tabs on their actions.

Understandably,
this transition doesn't go so well, but the missions go on.

Initially,
the Squad heads into Russia. Sage thinks it's an awesome idea to
cause rivalry within the team, in an effort to 'spice things up.'
Which goes about as well as can be expected. But they do end up
finding out what the Russians have been working on...by running
headfirst into it. And we are reminded once again exactly how
disposable the Squad members are.

Later,
what's left of the team picks up a few replacement members and heads
off to China. While the brainwashed ninja man-bats distract the
guards at a secured facility, and Reverse Flash sets up enough bombs
to blow the place sky-high, Black Manta and Harley check out what
exactly is going on there.

Looks
like China's working on the supervillain
threat as well. With
similarly astonishing results.

There's
a lot going on in this book. With the ever-revolving team members,
who by definition don't play well with authority, there's going to be
power struggles. Black Manta can only do so much as an on-site team
leader, when it's a
crapshoot whether he can get anyone to actually listen to him. Waller
understands this, but it's hard to make an outsider understand what
allowances have to be made for such an...eclectic team.

I
also have to make the standard objection to how they've changed
Waller's looks. Not every important female has to be slim and pretty.
It was nice to see a woman in power who had better things to worry
about than her diet, but alas, that's once again gone to the wayside.

In
all, New Suicide Squad Volume 1: Pure Insanity
is a pretty decent jumping-off point for new fans to the franchise.
Fans who have come to it from the Arrow TV show references have
enough touchstones with Deadshot and Deathstroke to not be too lost,
while still building towards what will probably be future storylines.

Highs:
Both the Russian and Chinese approaches to the supervillain
threat are fascinating, and I hope future stories go into these
further.

Lows:
Between pitting the two female Squad members against each other, and
Waller's 'makeover,' this isn't exactly the most feminist-friendly
book out there.

Verdict:
While
not a perfect comic by any means, New
Suicide Squad Volume 1: Pure Insanity
still has lots going for it.